Wooly Willy – Throwback Thursday!

It was real hard to get those pesky magnet filings to stay in place for a new beard for Willy.

This toy has “a face printed on cardboard under a bubble of plastic filled with metal filings that could be moved with a magnetic wand to create features like beards, mustaches, and shaggy eyebrows on the face.”[1]

Donald and his brother, James Herzog, developed the Willy toy while working in their father’s toy production company, Smethport Specialty Company.

Leonard Mackowski created the artwork for the first Willy toy. It is said that you can find his signature hidden in the grass on the reverse side.

Did you know:

1) Priced at US $0.29, Wooly Willy was successfully launched on the market in 1955.

2) More than 75 million of these toys have been sold.

3) Wooly Willy became a Baby Boomer hit.

4) Wooly Willy remains in production as of 2010 by Smethport Specialty Company, which is now owned by Patch Products.

5) This toy was added to the Toy Industry Association‘s “Century of Toys List” in 2003. The “Century of Toys List” is a roll call of the most creative and memorable toys of the 20th century!